A Blog by Tracey McCann

Hello my name is Tracey McCann. I feel privileged to be involved in the Aunua Academy. So, what will I be writing about today? Before I answer that question, I feel that it is important for me to give you a brief description of myself and my situation. I am a Bestselling Author, Life Coach, Disabled Advocate and Public Speaker. Take note of the last part of what I just wrote…it is important. I am a strong minded and driven young woman. I have gone through many ups and downs in my life. I am however, happy where my journey has now lead me. I love helping people of different levels and ages.

My story is this, at the age of 8 I obtained a rare genetic condition known as rapid on-set muscular Dystonia. This just came on me suddenly and without any real indications in the build up. I was on a school trip running around playing with my friends, and next of all I found myself in a daze and unable to walk. No matter how hard I kept trying to stand, I fell. I was so frustrated and confused. All in all, within a few days I was so tight; my body had twisted, and my arms were wrapped around my neck. Also, much to my horror, my ability to speak had faded out. I could not do anything for myself. Over the following years I felt like an overgrown baby, having to be washed, dressed and fed. It was hard to readjust and I was understandably in shock for many years. But no matter how hard it was, feeling trapped inside my head, I always had this inner belief something good will come about. I believed my life would change for the better. I would not always be so dependent, and I would overcome it.

Thanks to good support from my wonderful family and a lot of hard work and dedication, I retrained my body to get to where I am today. I have travelled all over the world visiting 20+ countries so far in my life. While I will admit that I have achieved all of this with the assistance of my family and friends, I also must give credit to the strongest asset that I possess, my motivation to not concede to peoples definitions of what I can or cannot do, motivation greater than limitation. This is the subject that I will be talking about today.

In my honest view, and from my own firsthand experience, motivation is extremely important when achieving our goals. How many of you have heard of or know of Napoleon Hill? He wrote in Think and Grow Rich that “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it will achieve” While I am not disputing this, as it is not my place to, I do feel it is missing one key thing, which is action.

Action has always been required in order to achieve anything that has ever been achieved. If we sit around just conceiving and believing in a dream, this does not guarantee results. A result, be it positive or negative, is only achieved by taking necessary action.

How many of you have, or know people who have gone to an event and felt so pushed in succeeding at a dream after that event? We feel motivated right? Now ask yourself, how many of those dreams have you actually achieved or are in the process of achieving? Maybe most of you are in the process of achieving your dreams but I am going to go on the assumption that some of you can relate to my next question. How many of you have felt really pumped after an event, and then when you leave, the real world pulls you back and dampens your enthusiasm? Why is this?

This is because, for the high majority of us, we care what other people think, that is the first reason. The second reason is that when we are listening to people saying we cannot do this and we cannot do that, and that we are crazy. We are subconsciously taking on board all those pessimistic views and then, in turn, shaping our own self-limiting beliefs. For example, I cannot do this because such and such tried it and failed.

What we all need to do is keep ourselves focused on our dreams. We achieve this by firstly surrounding ourselves with optimistic and supportive people who will not trample on our dreams, before we even get started. We also need to fill our own minds with supportive thoughts, not self-destructive ones. We achieve this by listening to uplifting speeches, working towards achieving our goals and repeating to ourselves daily affirmations, and also reminding ourselves daily that we are all amazing, and we all are self-empowered. This is not, as much as it may be viewed by others, us being cocky and egotistical, and if it is, it is better than being meek and submissive to the concepts of others. We all possess the strength within us to see our goals achieved; belief is not required for that, as it is a fact. Throughout the history of man we have constantly achieved whatever we have conceived. We have achieved these things through taking unwavering, persistent and determined action.

I am here writing this post to you all now, as someone who had every reason to roll over and concede, telling you, that you can achieve whatever you want to achieve, by just taking the correct motivated action. Years ago I wanted to tell my story, and share my message with the world, and now here I am as a Bestselling Author, Life Coach and Public Speaker, and I cannot talk. You can do anything you want, do not allow anyone, not even yourself, tell you otherwise. Each day, repeat this affirmation to yourself, I believe in myself. Telling yourself this, and believing this, is more than half the battle, I should know.